Britten: Violin Concerto & Piano Concerto

Album review

Although a pairing of concertos by a major composer would seem a natural thing, that of the Piano Concerto and the Violin Concerto of Benjamin Britten is uncommon. The reason is that the Piano Concerto is not a terribly well-known piece. It's entirely different in tone from the Violin Concerto, although the two works were composed only a year apart. The Piano Concerto is somehow less characteristic of Britten, which may have contributed to its neglect. But it comes off extremely well in this performance by the indefatigable Howard Shelley and the BBC Philharmonic under Edward Gardner. The first movement, with its brilliance and its dry satire of Romantic concerto conventions, is close enough to Shostakovich in spots to make you wonder whether one composer might have been listening to the other (given its composition date of 1938, the influence could have gone either way). The concerto was poorly reviewed at its premiere, and Britten later gave it a new, slightly shorter and tighter slow movement. The 1945 version is played here, but the original slow movement is also included, and really it's a close call: the work is given quite a different impact by the new version. Shelley's agile playing and brilliant sound from Chandos both work to the concerto's benefit. The Violin Concerto, composed in 1939 and a war-haunted work (the Spanish Civil War, not the impending World War II), is quite recognizable as Britten, but out of context hardly recognizable as the same as the composer of the Piano Concerto. Violinist Tasmin Little has made some wonderful recordings of British music of the 20th century, and your mileage may vary here, but the distinctive somehow personal sadness of Britten that is abundant in this work does not come through in this performance. Still, the fine recording of the Piano Concerto is well worth the price of admission.

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